Moscow ‘child beheading’: What we know about the ‘woman in black’

Moscow is in a state of shock after a woman dressed in black was seen walking around near a metro station with a ‘child’s severed head’ in her hand and shouting “I am a terrorist” and "Allahu Akbar." Here is what’s known so far about the horrific incident.

How it all started

Early Monday morning passers-by noticed a woman dressed in black clothes who was shouting something near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in northwest Moscow. The woman then produced what is thought to be a child’s severed head from her bag, witnesses say. She was allegedly threatening to blow herself up. Police were called to the scene and the woman was arrested. She is being examined by psychiatrists, and later on Monday was taken back to the scene of the crime, to re-enact it.

This woman is waving the severed head of a child at a Moscow metro station. She was the dead 4 year old's nanny. She shouts, 'I am a terrorist', 'I will die, Judgement day is imminent'.Note: Some speech is slurred and inaudible, translation is approximate

Who the alleged murderer is

The Russian media identified the suspect as Gulchekhra Bobokulova, 39, from Uzbekistan. It’s been reported that she worked for two years as a nanny to the girl who was killed, who was apparently suffering from a severe, but unspecified nervous system disability. The head of the Moscow Migration Service department says the woman did not have a work permit. A source in the police authorities told Interfax that the woman was under the influence of drugs at the moment she was arrested. A "family friend" told the MK.ru news website that Bobokulova was "treated like family" by her employers.

What’s known about the crime

The decapitated body of a 3- or 4-year-old child was found by firefighters responding to a blaze in an apartment near the Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station, the investigative committee said. The media identified the toddler as a girl, Nastya M. Investigators suspect that the nanny waited till the parents had left the apartment with the elder child, then killed the little girl and set the apartment on fire. It’s been alleged she later put the dead child’s head in a bag and took a tram to the metro station. The motive behind the crime is not clear.

What the woman was shouting before being arrested

Numerous videos released online recorded indistinct speech, but some of the phrases can still be discerned, such as the phrase “I hate democracy. I’m a terrorist.”“I'm your suicide bomber… I'm going to die in a second…The end of the world…” the woman also shouted. “The end of the world is coming in a second…I’m your death”. She is also heard saying that she has been “cursed” and “destroyed”“so many times.”

Were there explosives?

Reports in the Russian media said that police were searching for explosive devices in the area near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station. However, the officers didn’t locate any suspicious devices.

A search of the suspect first showed an absence of explosive devices. Later, LifeNews reported that experts found traces of explosives. However, these could be traces of the chemicals the woman used while setting the apartment on fire.